Overcoming Fear II

We spoke of the power that fear can have on us. In many situations, fear is actually the force which is in control. People allow this to stand between them and their dreams. It is sad how something that does not exist can exert such influence.

There are many strategies which help in overcoming fear and getting us to take action. However, there is one which I believe trumps all the rest. Follow this simple idea and you will be able to take action in any situation.

This involves asking one simple question: "what is the worst thing that could happen in this situation?". Come up with the answer to that question and prepare for that event. If you are prepared for the worst case scenario, then you will be able to handle whatever arises. This is a technique those who are trained in crisis management utilize.

When working with salespeople, I often find they are fearful of prospecting. The fear of rejection has the power to paralyze. This simple technique works wonders in this situation. I ask them what is the worst that happens. For example, in telephone prospecting, the worst thing that could occur is for that person to hang up (perhaps after saying a few berating words). The next question is, what would you do? Hang up the phone after hearing the dial tone is the most likely answer. Not the end of the world.

We can take this same principle into the world of dating. Many are scared to approach a person of the opposite sex for fear of being rejected. Another example: what is the worst that can happen? She can laugh and say no. Okay. Learn how to deal with that response and take action. Anything short of that will be a piece of cake to deal with.

You see, we can apply this to all fears that we have. What is the worst that is going to happen? Often we have this idea already in our head. Therefore, prepare for that outcome so that you are ready. Then, if it does happen, you can handle it.

An interesting sidenote to this technique: if you prepare for things that do not occur often enough, you will find that you tend to stop the negative thinking after a while. It takes effort to continually prepare for dire situations which never occur. After a while, one sees the insanity of his or her own thinking. The mind is playing tricks on us. Fear is just a technique for control.

Try this mind trick the next time you are fearful about something. The first couple of times you might want to write it down. In fact, keep a journal just to monitor what really happened. Note the situation, what you think will happen (worst case scenario), and your plan for dealing with it. Also write down what occurred after the situation is resolved. This will give you a record of what your mind is doing. It wont take you too long to see how fear is used to make decisions for you.
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Make Your Life Easier: Emails

I decided to offer up some tips that I learned over the years to make your life easier. Periodically, I am going to write something that helped me to increase my productivity or save some time in a particular area.

Today, I am going to focus on emails. This is something that I know most people struggle with. It is rare to come across someone who does not have a full "inbox". At the time I put the following idea to use, I had almost 1,000 emails. This was an unmanageable number.

To start, it is important to understand that you will not go back and read most emails. We all think that we will "get to it later" but we never do. We tend to save a lot of useless stuff that only drains us whenever we open the email account. The following will eliminate this problem.

1. Begin by creating two new folders: label one passwords and the other with today's date.

2. Go through you inbox and move all the emails that have passwords or other similar information into the "Passwords" folder.

3. Move the remaining emails into the one with the today's date on it.

There you have it. Your inbox is suddenly empty. Now, anything new that comes in can be read and deleted. There is no effort required to try and catch up on all the old stuff. It is still there if you need it. However, you will feel better since you do not see all that old junk whenever you open your email.

What I found is that after the first month, I never went into the folder where all that old stuff is. I still have it just "in case" yet am coming to the realization that I am dreaming a bit. I will most likely never reopen 99% of what is in there. I am certain you will experience the same thing.

Now you have control of your emails. You will notice, after a short period of time, that you will be bothered if you leave even one email in the "inbox". It will get to the point where you want to handle each of them immediately and be done. This increases prodcutivity in addition to providing greater control. And, the best part is you can set this all up in under 15 minutes. It is simple but effective.
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